Integrated Programme in Management (IPM) is a program aimed at students who have passed out of class XII/Higher Secondary or equivalent from schools across India.

IPM is a 5-year program launched in 2011 by IIM Indore. The program has been accredited by the Association of MBAs, London. 

Despite its high accreditation, it has some major drawbacks that definitely need to be considered before joining 

Fees

The IPM is the most expensive graduation course in all of India. The fees for the first 3 years alone are INR 1500000. If you consider the additional cost and the total fees the approximate fee is INR 3500000.

Future Scope

The program offers a very limited scope. This is because even if you decide to leave after 3 years, you will want to pursue Management itself. But leaving after spending so much on graduation is not easy. Also, people usually leave if they get a call from a better IIM. In that case, why did you even pursue graduation at such a high cost?

Lack of Academic Diversity 

Most students who come to IIM for MBAs has diverse background. Some are engineers while some are in Law. But an IPM student has been in the same institution for 5 years pursuing the same course. So they lack the much-coveted academic diversity by the recruiters.

No Specialization 

While most MBA students have a specialization in graduation, IPM students have no specialization at all. They have been studying Management right after 12.

Placements 

The placement scenario of IPM students is average. The IPM students and freshers whereas the PGP students have work experience. Both batches are put on an equal scale during placements. Obviously, top companies prefer experienced students over freshers.

A general PGP student is someone around 22-24 years of age, with an Undergraduate degree in Core engineering stream and work experience of 6-22 months in IT.

Whereas a typical IPM student would be someone of age 20-22 with an Undergraduate degree from IGNOU and no work experience at all.

Some general opinions regarding PGP students are as follows

• PGP students are way more mature and devoted to their careers than IPM students. This is because of the age gap and exposure to the real world.
• With prior work experience at hand, PGP students understand management concepts more quickly. This industry exposure lacks on the part of IPM students who are freshers. 
• The fact that 2 batches with different criteria of admission get to sit in the same class learning the same courses is a bit difficult to understand for some students. Many are against this idea of both the batches sharing facilities like campus, professors, and placements.
• The placement scenarios at IIM Indore are still not on par with other IIMs owing to its recent establishment. The PGP students claim that the increasing batch size due to IPM admissions has resulted in a drop in placements. Many offers are made but in similar roles and with low packages.
• The IPM students prefer a carefree lifestyle despite the rigor of the course. They can be seen partying late at night and participating in other fests.

Not all IPM students are carefree and uninterested in their goals. There are some exceptionally good IPM students who are even better than PGP students from top engineering schools.

Moving on to the next part of your question, if IPM is really worth it, I would say no. Personally, I don’t think one should invest so much money in a course that has no certainty. The newly established course is yet to instill trust in the industry. The recruiters are not yet ready to undertake the risks of recruiting an IPM student so they face terrible placement demerits. But the final decision is yours to make.